New York City Draft Riots

Date: July 13, 1863 • Location: New York City, United States

This milestone marked the outbreak and beginning of this historic period, which spanned 1863.

Four days of rioting began in New York City in response to laws passed by the U.S. Congress to draft men to fight in the American Civil War.

The New York City draft riots, sometimes referred to as the Manhattan draft riots and known at the time as Draft Week, were violent disturbances in Lower Manhattan, widely regarded as the culmination of working-class discontent with new laws passed by Congress that year to draft men to fight in the ongoing American Civil War.